Two goals in a five-minute spell helped league-leaders Swindon Town defeat Crewe Alexandra at the County Ground yesterday afternoon. Rob Hunt gave the hosts the lead in the first-half before Chuma Anene would level just after the hour-mark before goals from Jerry Yates and Danny Rose sealed the win.
Manager David Artell named an unchanged starting line-up from last Sunday’s 3-1 home defeat against Barnsley in the FA Cup with midfielder Josh Lundstram replacing the injured Billy Sass-Davies on the bench.
The opening goal of the game saw the Alex give the ball away playing out from the back allowing left-back Hunt the opportunity to score from distance, his shot taking a deflection off Ryan Wintle to see the Robins lead at half-time.
The Alex would level the scoreline on 61 minutes with Charlie Kirk getting in down the left with his low cross turned in by Anene from close range. The Robins would retake the lead 8 minutes later as an injury to Nicky Hunt saw young right-back Travis Johnson come on (with Perry Ng moving into the centre) and within a minute a lobbed through-ball from Rob Hunt found Yates, whose finish rifled into the top corner. The lead was extended as a shot from Dialling Jaiyesimi hit both the bar then post with Rose turning in the rebound from around the penalty spot.
Our next two games see us host Cheltenham Town next Saturday before a trip to Macclesfield Town (if they are still training by then) the following Tuesday.
What can we learn from this game?
I think we’re all aware of the big issue coming out of the game and that’s the lack of fit centre-backs at the club at the minute (especially losing Hunt during this one) and, without someone coming in this week, Ng and Wintle would most probably be the partnership at centre-back for Cheltenham assuming that Hunty’s knock rules him out of the game.
For tomorrow’s U23 game against Leeds, it’s likely that Johnson and Lundstram (or maybe one of the U18s) at the back but none of the above would be considered to play at centre-back for the first-team at this point.
County Ground
League 2
11/01/2020 4:00 pm
Attendance: 7601
Referee: Darren Handley
| Swindon Town | Crewe Alexandra | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Hunt, Yates, Rose | Anene | ||||||
| Benda | Jaaskelainen | ||||||
| Caddis | Ng | ||||||
| Grant | Wintle | ||||||
| Broadbent | Hunt | 68 | |||||
| Hunt | Pickering | ||||||
| Rose | Ainley | 73 | |||||
| Doughty | Green | ||||||
| Isgrove | Lowery | 73 | |||||
| Jaiyesimi | Powell | ||||||
| Woolery | Anene | ||||||
| Yates | Kirk | ||||||
Substitutes |
|||||||
| McCormick | Richards | ||||||
| May | Jones | ||||||
| McGlip | Finney | 73 | |||||
| Twine | Dale | 73 | |||||
| Bancroft | Lundstram | ||||||
| Curran | Johnson | 68 | |||||
| Haines | Mbulu | ||||||
Game Statistics |
||
| 11 | Goal attempts | 5 |
| 5 | On Target | 2 |
| 6 | Corners | 5 |
| 17 | Fouls | 3 |
| 2 | Yellow Cards | 0 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 36 | % | 64 |